Are clear cuts ecologically harmful? Why or why not?

Question

i need some arguements here, i'll agree with the strongest arguement

Answer 1

CO2...plants and trees remove CO2 from the air.  CO2 is a greenhouse gas...shoot...CO2 is THE greenhouse gas.  Less trees, less capabilty to remove the CO2 in the air.  More global warming, more ice melt, more weather swings, more crop destruction, more starvation.  Not to mention the animal habitats being eliminated and the overcrowding of species due to less "forest land".  Clear cuts are probably the most ecologically harmful action other than chemical spills.

Answer 2

Harmful only if done to clear cut for ranching or farming, like the destruction taking place in the Amazon in Brazil.

If clear cutting dead or diseased trees, then it`s a good thing as long as healthy replacements are put in and managed correctly.

Being ecologically balanced is what most environmentalist strive for, but then you have the ones that go over board and then get all lumped together by their opponents.

Answer 3

An answer to many ecology questions is appropriate for your question: It depends.

If properly executed, clear-cuts are the best way to harvest timber in certain types of environments. Some trees (i.e. Atlantic White Cedar) will not germinate (grow from seed) unless the seed is in direct sunlight, which can be created via clear-cut. Before human intervention, these trees relied on fire to clear the forest.

On the other hand, clear-cuts can cause massive soil erosion and insect outbreaks, even on a small scale. Of course, large-scale clear-cuts are never ecologically sound.

If the clear cut is planned, taking the type of environment (mountains, sand-hills, plantations, etc.), scale, and potential insect pests into account, they can be better for the environment than selective cuts.

Answer 4

Clear cutting is very good to maintain a healthy forest. It removes dead and unhealthy trees, but more importantly is reduces the chance for out of control forest fires.

This is an interesting read:

http://www.americanloggers.org/ubb/Forum...